extent of that country. These words, however, do not purport to declare the legal limits of Wales as then understood, but to create a new Wales, by naming the counties of which it shall thenceforth be constituted. This new limitation can only bear a qualified sense; not historical, for an Act of Parliament cannot alter history; nor political, for a political division between two countries already become and still remaining politically one is a contradiction in terms, and can only be compared to a reconstitution by arbitrary limits of the Heptarchy, without touching the integrity of England. Further, that it was not only of a qualified, but also of a temporary character a limitation for a special purpose only, which has now passed away, carrying with it the limitation is evident from the remainder of the Act itself, subsequent legislation, and the best authorities.
The Act comprises a variety of matters independent of its chief object. It contains 66 sections. The first is quoted above; the second confirms the limitations of hundreds, lately made within some of the ancient and all of the new shires, by Royal Commission under the Act of Union.[1] The third continues the President and Council of Wales and the Marches of the same. The sections from 4 to 32 inclusive establish the new judicature. Of the remaining enactments some are rendered necessary by the existence of two separate judicial systems within the same realm; some assimilate certain laws of Wales to those of England; some are local, or personal, or commercial, arrangements; some relate to parliamentary representation; and some reserve certain rights and liberties. Finally, there was a clause giving to the King unlimited power of alteration, revocation, and re-enactment, which was repealed in the reign of James I.
The limitation of Wales to twelve shires by sec. 1, does not apply to sec. 2, which is merely supplementary to a former Act.[2] Neither does it apply to sec. 3, continuing the President and Council of Wales and the Marches thereof, and the Court of Equity before them. The Act does not purport to alter or limit, but to strengthen and warrant, this Court,[3] which still exercised authority over the same territory, although the Marches had become shire-ground. Sec. 1 in effect creates a judicial Wales as the province or scope of the new judicature established by sections 4 to 32, and therefore belongs to that set of enactments only. It lays down an arbitrary limit, which, so far as it serves its purpose, is reasonable and proper, but in all other respects is unreal and useless, and leads to confusion. The use of the term " Wales" in this limited sense in other parts of the Act, and in subsequent Acts not concerning the Welch judicature, involves no inconsistency.
